{"id":535271,"date":"2026-03-12T09:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/535271\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T09:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:56:09","slug":"valverdes-astonishing-real-madrid-hat-trick-leaves-manchester-city-on-brink-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/535271\/","title":{"rendered":"Valverde\u2019s astonishing Real Madrid hat-trick leaves Manchester City on brink | Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federico Valverde was the Real Madrid hero who wrote himself into this storied club\u2019s folklore with an immortal first-half, 22-minute hat-trick that decimated Manchester City<\/a> and cast Pep Guardiola as a tactical novice.<\/p>\n

Each of Valverde\u2019s goals were a diagram of his supreme skill and City\u2019s chump-like defending that leaves their hopes of a quarter-final berth near extinct. If Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior had netted a second-half penalty Real could all but celebrate progression, yet if City score early in Tuesday\u2019s return who knows.<\/p>\n

Guardiola promised \u201cno surprises\u201d tactically yet spurned a golden chance here. Real missed the injured Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham, \u00c1lvaro Carreras and \u00c9der Milit\u00e3o, so \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa\u2019s resources were stretched.<\/p>\n

Factor in how the absent Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s 13 strikes led the competition and the seven-goal Erling Haaland was back after not playing in Saturday\u2019s FA Cup win at Newcastle<\/a>, and the record 15-times winners could be billed as underdogs. By the close this felt fanciful and so Guardiola\u2019s mission is to revitalise a group who fly home severely bruised at the campaign\u2019s defining phase.<\/p>\n

Real\u2019s pre-kickoff entertainment roused the senses. It featured a reel of Champions League<\/a> final goals \u2013 including Gareth Bale\u2019s showstopping overhead kick \u2013 plus a volume-shattering play of the new anthem with a lyric, \u201chistoria por hacer\u201d (more history to be made) which Arbeloa\u2019s men embodied as they ripped City apart.<\/p>\n

After Brahim D\u00edaz forced a point-blank Gianluigi Donnarumma save, the forward regained his feet and urged the Madridistas to roar, which they did. Previous to this Real were composed in defence when Haaland charged into their area: Trent Alexander-Arnold outmuscled the giant No 9, dummied and coolly ran from danger, again to a massive cheer.<\/p>\n

Guardiola\u2019s configuration was the 4-2-2-2 of recent games that featured three wingers in J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku, Savinho and Antoine Semenyo, the last of who partnered Haaland up top.<\/p>\n

It was ultra-attacking with Alexander-Arnold\u2019s right-back flank targeted and for a while it worked. Doku and Nico O\u2019Reilly each threatened from City\u2019s left, bouncing crosses before Thibaut Courtois that begged to be finished. From one Doku effort, a corner was claimed. A training ground drill ensued as Bernardo Silva fired the ball in low for Semenyo but he slipped and the ball smacked off his head.<\/p>\n

Now came the opening salvo of joy for Real and Valverde, and disaster for City, specifically O\u2019Reilly. Courtois launched a diagonal downfield to the captain who was on the right. He took the ball on the full, dodged O\u2019Reilly, who should have at least felled him, and ran for goal. Donnarumma charged out but the No 8 slipped the ball one side, ran the other way and, from a narrow angle, bulged the net.<\/p>\n

Federico Valverde scores his second goal against Manchester City. Photograph: Pierre-Philippe Marcou\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

City, made to appear mugs, were victims of Guardiola\u2019s gung-ho selection which was pace heavy and missing the extra guile of Phil Foden or Rayan Cherki. They paid dearly again due to more hapless rearguard action. This time Vin\u00edcius drove along the left, scattering City. The Brazilian\u2019s pass hit a turning R\u00faben Dias on the boot, diverting the ball to Valverde who, after a look, lashed beyond Donnarumma into the far corner, this time with his left foot.<\/p>\n

The spectacle was end-to-end, rather than the Rodri-led controlled stuff that is the Guardiola tenet. After the half hour, the Spaniard began to pass and move forcing Real into a brief passage of chase-ball, but next came Valverde\u2019s sublime hat-trick finish.<\/p>\n

Abdukodir Khusanov, in for Matheus Nunes at right-back, was the City defender who this time fell asleep, allowing Vin\u00edcius to race down the left. When the ball eventually went right D\u00edaz\u2019s chip was lunged at by Marc Gu\u00e9hi \u2013 except Valverde was quicker, lofting the ball over him and running on and volleying home for one of the all-time hat-trick clinching goals, leaving City 3-0 behind at the break.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideBod\u00f8\/Glimt eye quarter-finals after stunning SportingShow\"\"<\/p>\n

Another stellar display on their artificial home turf at the Aspmyra Stadion gave Norway\u2019s Bod\u00f8\/Glimt a 3-0 win over Sporting in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie. The Portuguese side joined the long list of big-name European clubs that have made the journey to the little fishing town inside the Arctic Circle and came away empty-handed as Bod\u00f8 romped to an easy victory that puts them in the driving seat for a spot in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Luis Su\u00e1rez blazed an early chance over the bar for the visitors but after that the hosts took over, and went ahead just after the half-hour mark after Georgios Vagiannidis bundled over Sondre Brunstad Fet in the box. The midfielder confidently stroked home the penalty he had won to give his side the lead.<\/p>\n

The hosts were 2-0 up by the break, and though there was a slice of luck involved as Jens Petter Hauge\u2019s through ball deflected into the path of Ole Didrik Blomberg (pictured), there was nothing fortunate about his superb finish from a tight angle to double Bod\u00f8’s advantage.<\/p>\n

Sporting showed a glimmer of attacking intent to start the second half but it was quickly snuffed out, and the hosts should have gone three up in the 55th minute after the ball pinged around in the box before eventually going out of play, with the Bod\u00f8 defender Jostein Gundersen heading the resulting corner straight at the goalkeeper Rui Silva.<\/p>\n

In total control of the game, Bod\u00f8 grabbed the third goal their efforts deserved when the striker Kasper H\u00f8gh rounded off another fairytale effort, stealing between two defenders to deftly steer Hauge\u2019s low cross into the net from close range.<\/p>\n

The 3-0 win, Bod\u00f8\u2019s fifth straight victory in the competition, leaves Sporting with a mountain to climb in the second leg, which will take place in Lisbon on Tuesday. Reuters<\/p>\n

Photograph: Fredrik Varfjell\/NTB Scanpix<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

For the second period Fran Garc\u00eda replaced Ferland Mendy at left-back for Real and Guardiola hauled off Savinho for the midfielder Tijjani Reijnders: evidence of the error of his original selection.<\/p>\n

Moments into the restart D\u00edaz ripped through City and shot, Donnarumma saved, and while Dias blocked Vin\u00edcius\u2019s follow-up, Real sucker-punched their guest again.<\/p>\n

At a Silva corner the ball fell to Alexander-Arnold, whose raking pass was chased by Vin\u00edcius. The speedster was caught by Khusanov in City\u2019s area but, swerving left, Donnarumma caught him. Maurizio Mariani awarded a penalty and the Italian was booked. Now a lifeline as Real\u2019s playmaker hit the kick right and Donnarumma saved. Four-nil and it was surely tie over as Vin\u00edcius knew: a dribble and shot seconds after his miss nearly making amends.<\/p>\n

Real wanted a second spot-kick when Dias\u2019s challenge toppled D\u00edaz but the centre-back took the ball. Courtois, largely unworked, saved from O\u2019Reilly but City were impotent and so a Real clean sheet felt as apt as the win was dominant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federico Valverde was the Real Madrid hero who wrote himself into this storied club\u2019s folklore with an immortal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-535271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}